


Home

by thestarsalonecantell



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Friends to Lovers, M/M, doyoung is a stressy boi, fluffy dotae, rated for language, what even are these tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-23
Updated: 2018-03-23
Packaged: 2019-04-07 02:27:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14070870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thestarsalonecantell/pseuds/thestarsalonecantell
Summary: Dongyoung's stressing out about his upcoming exam. Taeyong knows just how to help.





	Home

  
  
  
This should not be a normal Friday evening, poring over neatly highlighted textbooks and not so neatly written notes after goodness knows how many cups of coffee. However, this is where Dongyoung so often ends up, rubbing his eyes and trying to read his own handwriting through blurred vision. He sighs to himself. He's going to experience spontaneous combustion in his brain if he studies any longer, probably. But the sacrifice is worth it for the sake of his grade, of course.

As he's thinking this, his phone buzzes. Of course, his intention is only to cast a cursory glance at his phone and no more, but he ends up picking up the device after seeing the text is from Taeyong.

if you're still studying i will actually come over there and break your fkin collarbone  
( _00:52_ )

It's scary how well his best friend can read him.

dude why my collarbone thats so specific  
( _00:52_ )

also i am studying  
( _00:53_ )

the grind never stops bro  
( _00:53_ )

oh lord how long have you been awake for you to be spouting this much cringe  
( _00:54_ )

time for you to sleep doyoungie  
( _00:54_ )

cant too much caffeine  
( _00:55_ )

k that's it ill be there in about 10 min  
( _00:55_ )

to break my collarbone?  
( _00:56_ )

to take you away from everything  
( _00:56_ )

Dongyoung is rendered speechless yet again by Taeyong, not that the older man knows it. It's not like Dongyoung would ever voluntarily tell Taeyong that after years of friendship, and these _feelings_ for almost as long, he's pretty sure he's fallen in love. He wouldn't very much like to see the expression on Taeyong's face when he predictably rejects him. But he's doing an alright job at hiding it, he thinks.

Putting all of those thoughts aside, he scrambles to get dressed, pulling on his comfy jumper, a pair of socks and trainers. Luckily, it's a fairly warm summer night, so he doesn't have to turn the place upside down looking for his coat.

No sooner has he finished tying his laces than his phone goes off again, and it's Taeyong notifying him that his car is outside. Dongyoung grabs his keys from the bowl on the table and then he's rushing down the stairs and out of the building, jogging to meet Taeyong who is sat in his car with the top down.

"I'm surprised you didn't try to bring a textbook with you." the older man quips as Dongyoung seats himself in the passenger side of the car. The latter blinks to himself in surprise that he hadn't thought of it himself.

"Fuck, I should have done that."

Taeyong turns to him, and his scandalised expression is clearly visible in the light from the streetlamp over their heads. "It was a joke! The fact that you'd even consider it... You're a bloody workaholic, Doyoung."

Dongyoung can do nothing but smile weakly as Taeyong starts the car, and soon the only sound is the growl of the engine as the vehicle starts to move. After a minute, Dongyoung asks, "Where are we going?" The shorter man replies simply, "Anywhere. I'm just driving. We can stop and eat whenever, I've got a small picnic in the back."

The younger stares in adoration for a while, before choosing to focus instead on the refreshing feeling of the wind on his face. Admittedly, this is a good idea of Taeyong's. He locks eyes with the red-haired man through the rear view mirror, and Taeyong smiles warmly at him, making Dongyoung's own smile even bigger. They reach a back road away from all residences on which they are the only travellers, and Dongyoung feels relaxed enough to lean back in his seat, throw his head back and shout, "I hate exams!" at the sky filled with stars. After that, he takes his time to appreciate each and every star and constellation, exclaiming, "That's the Pole Star, over there!" and "Look at Hercules, he's so clear tonight!" He doesn't really care whether Taeyong is listening, but thinks he is, as the other keeps glancing at him through the mirror, lips still pulled back in a gentle smile. Dongyoung finally feels like he can forget the stress brought about by his impending exams, and just focuses on the now, being in a probably speeding car with his best friend. They have, it seems, all the time in the world.

Soon, Taeyong brings the car to a stop, and Dongyoung looks around, wondering how it took so little time to get from suburbia to a _field_. The older offers no explanation as they get out of the car, Taeyong taking a small basket from the back, and they walk along the dark footpath, no streetlamps to aid them this time. They walk for a while before coming across a grassy knoll, which is in front of a bridge over a small stream. This is where they decide to stop, and Taeyong unpacks the basket. Dongyoung should probably be helping, but, propelled by a sudden influx of euphoria, instead hops onto the side of the bridge and peers over at the dark water below. He doesn't really know why he'd do something dangerous enough that he'd scold anyone else for doing it, but the relief of being away from the monotony of bullet points in size 12 font is doing something to him. "Can this even be called a stream?" He asks curiously. "It's barely moving."

Taeyong grabs his wrist and pulls him off the side, catching him with an arm around his waist when he stumbles. "One of these days you're going to die, and it'll be entirely because you do stupid things like this. I'm never letting you stay awake for more than 24 hours ever again." Luckily, Dongyoung's blush at the hand resting on his hip can't be picked up on in the dark, and Taeyong isn't near enough to notice how madly his heart rate has sped up. "Come and eat." The other man says, disregarding the younger's question about the stream - probably because he doesn't know the answer.

Dongyoung sits in front of the spread of different fruits and some chocolate, wondering how Taeyong can be so organised that he can prepare all of this and even a picnic blanket in less than ten minutes. He pops a strawberry in his mouth, revelling in the sweetness that blooms on his tongue, before he says, "Thank you for this. I didn't know how much I needed it."

It's too dark to make out the nuances of Taeyong's expression, so all Dongyoung knows is that the older looks at him for a while, silently. Then he speaks.

"You're lucky I know you better than you know yourself then." There's a weight behind the words, something meaningful that Dongyoung assumes he's supposed to understand... but he doesn't. Instead he smiles, asking how any average uni student can afford this much food. Taeyong's simple reply is that his roommate is Ten, which makes sense because the guy is very very rich.

Then Dongyoung picks up a bar of chocolate, breaking a small piece off with his teeth. He hands it to Taeyong who does a similar thing, and Dongyoung is far too old to be flustered over something as childish as an indirect kiss when it's happened so many times before, but his heart rate picks up slightly, again.

The food is all gone before either of them know it, and Dongyoung is a little sad because being out here is magical, surreal almost, and with the picnic finished, they no longer have an excuse to stay. He doesn't want it to end.

Suddenly, he wants to look at the stars, so he flops backwards onto the grass. The early morning dew wets his jumper a little, but he finds that he doesn't care, pointing out Cygnus and Sagittarius, and marvelling in the beauty of the universe. "Kinda makes you feel insignificant, doesn't it? We're merely two infinitesimally small blips in the vast expanse of the universe."  Taeyong lays beside him, listening wordlessly as he so often does when Dongyoung starts rambling. He's so quiet that Dongyoung thinks he might be asleep, so he asks in a hushed tone, "You still here?" He gets no verbal reply, but the older man reaches to take his hand. This makes the younger freeze, because they don't hold hands all that often, but whenever they do, Dongyoung predictably gets flustered. But he's great at brushing it aside after so much practice, so he ignores the feeling in his chest and continues wittering about the sky above.

 

After some time, which feels like minutes but could well have been longer, Dongyoung hears rustling next to him, and sure enough, Taeyong's silhouette blocks out his view of the stars. He still doesn't say anything, and even though he can't see, Dongyoung knows that his best friend's warm brown eyes are on him, and the knowledge inexplicably makes him shiver. The shorter man lowers himself so he's leaning over Dongyoung, and now that he's close, the black-haired male can see his facial features. "Doyoung." He whispers, getting ever closer until their faces are less than an inch apart, and he's far too close to be platonic and Dongyoung doesn't know what to do. "Can I...?"

Dongyoung now knows what he's asking, and he can barely believe that Taeyong would want to, after all this time believing that his feelings were unrequited. But this is what he wants more than anything, what he's wanted for so long, so he draws in a shaky breath. "Please."

Then Taeyong is kissing him.

He cradles the younger's face almost reverently, rubbing his thumbs along Dongyoung's cheekbones as he kisses him slowly, lips moving against his own in a relaxed manner. Dongyoung still feels the need to make sure that this is real, so he hesitantly puts his hands on Taeyong's shoulders, and kisses back as the older repositions himself to kiss him better.

Neither of them make any move to deepen the kiss, and soon Taeyong takes his mouth away from Dongyoung's in order to pepper kisses all over his face, making the taller man giggle. "God," he mumbles, "you have no idea how long I've waited to be able to do that."

"You shouldn't have." Dongyoung replies, pressing a chaste kiss to the corner of Taeyong's mouth. "I've waited just as long." Then they're kissing again, and despite being in the middle of nowhere, laying on wet grass at an ungodly hour of the morning, Dongyoung thinks this feeling is... home.

Taeyong's mouth tastes like raspberries and chocolate, and Dongyoung can't get enough of it.

 

An unspecified amount of time passes (not enough, in Dongyoung's sincere opinion) before Taeyong breaks away, asking, "Still stressed, Doyoungie?"

Dongyoung can only gaze up at him incredulously. "After all of this, how on earth could I possibly be?" He pulls the elder down so that their legs are entangled and their chests are pressed together. "You know me too well." He whispers. "Without you, I'd still be studying my arse off and getting nowhere." In response, Taeyong drops light kisses along his neck, and it tickles a little, but mostly just feels really nice. 

"Can you pinch me, just to make sure I'm not dreaming?" He asks, muffled in the crook of Dongyoung's neck. The latter complies, fingertips ghosting over the shorter man's sharp jawline before he takes a small area of Taeyong's cheek and applies the tiniest bit of pressure.

"If you're dreaming, then I must be too." 

They share a smile which is so familiar to Dongyoung, a smile reserved just for each other. The mere sight of it does wonders for Dongyoung's soul, it really does.

Until Taeyong starts moving to get off him, and the younger cannot think of anything worse. "Just where do you think you're going?"

"We've got to get back to the car, Doyoung, it's..." Taeyong checks his watch, "almost 3 in the morning."

"I'm just going to freak out and start revising again when I go home." Dongyoung pouts as the other stands up.

"Well, I'll sleep over." The red-haired shrugs nonchalantly, and maybe Dongyoung's the only one whose mind immediately jumped to the _implications_ of that sentence. "We'll clean your stuff up and go to bed, then you'll have at least some sleep before your test tomorrow."

"Hmmm.. You're very charming, mister Lee. But I'm perfectly fine right here. What's in it for me?"

Taeyong gazes at him, before sighing exaggeratedly and breaking into a smile. "Cuddles."

"And I'm sold!" Dongyoung takes the warm hand offered to him, and stands up, moving to pack away the picnic basket. When that's done, they both walk back to the car, and Taeyong takes hold of his hand once they're seated, driving with one hand- thankfully not as fast on the way back.

It seems to take less time to get back to Dongyoung's flat, and they're soon inside. Taeyong insists upon clearing the textbooks and piles of handwritten notes so that the taller man doesn't get stressed again. In the meantime, Dongyoung microwaves two mugs of milk, and they soon retire to bed. (Taeyong looks downright adorable in his spare pyjamas).

After some heated discussion, Dongyoung ends up being the little spoon. He'd protested this, but he secretly doesn't mind the outcome, because it's nice to be coddled, with Taeyong curled around him, an arm over his waist. Despite having been best friends for so long, they've never slept in the same bed before, and Dongyoung enjoys this new experience.

Taeyong kisses the back of his neck, saying, "Goodnight, Doyoungie." and they drift off to sleep.

 

 

 

Dongyoung ends up acing his exam, and when he gets out of the lecture hall after getting his results to see Taeyong leaning on a wall, waiting for him, he knows he's come home early.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading this product of sleep deprivation and playing "my home" by got7 on repeat
> 
> I love dotae so frickin much


End file.
